By Tony Gosgnach
TORONTO, October 8, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Veteran pro-life demonstrator Linda Gibbons was again arrested by Toronto Police around 11 a.m. this morning outside the Scott “Clinic” abortion site on Gerrard Street East, which is covered by an unprecedented 14-year-old “temporary” court injunction banning pro-life activity within a 20-metre zone around it.
The diminutive grandmother has spent about five of the past 14 years in prison in connection with peaceful and prayerful demonstrations outside Toronto abortuaries. On this latest occasion, she was accosted by four uniformed police officers and a sheriff’s officer who arrived in two marked vehicles after she appeared outside the abortion site with her usual sign reading, “Why, mom? When I have so much love to give.”
As usual, Gibbons offered no resistance to the law enforcement officers as her sign was seized, and she was handcuffed and then led to a waiting police cruiser. Several supporters stood across the street and were then spoken to and warned by police.
Pro-life observers are waiting to see what charge will be laid, if any, in light of Gibbons’s recent acquittal on Sept. 30 of the charge of obstructing a peace officer. Justice S. Ford Clements ruled that Gibbons’s peaceful and silent conduct could in no way be interpreted to mean she was making any peace officer’s job more difficult and, therefore, did not constitute obstruction.
That decision brought into question the often-used tactic of the police and Crown attorney’s office of charging Gibbons with obstructing a peace officer. Gibbon’s lawyers have contested that the correct and more appropriate charge is disobeying a court order. Pro-life observers believe the ploy has been politically aimed at denying Gibbons the right to a jury trial and thus the opportunity to challenge the constitutionality of the 14-year-old “temporary” injunction.
Legal officials say a 14-year temporary court injunction is unheard of in local legal annals.
LifeSite News will report the nature of the charge laid as soon as information is available.